Review of Blankets by Craig Thompson

I thought that Blankets by Craig Thompson was a wonderful example of the emotion impact of the graphic novel medium. This coming-of-age story truly expresses the struggles of growing up and the issues that we run into physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. I could sense a tone of discovery of one's self and the search for own purpose. I could feel the sincerity in the emotional responses. This autobiography was so immersive and genuinely heartfelt. I also enjoyed how the story was laid out from the storytelling and design point of view. 

I think that Thompson set the story and its content up in a way that would give the graphic novel so much air and room for the viewer to be fully involved as the story develops. This can be attributed to the graphic novel form, which grants the author a lot more freedom for pacing and to just take his time with the story. I really like how the story unfolds in a non- linear way. It's like he progresses us through the story in a way that only gives us vital information about the past only when it is absolutely necessary to propel the story and add another layer of depth. I really was taken on a rollercoaster with all of the emotional ups and downs. Also, another tool I think that Thompson really used silence as a tool and it really resonated. 

From a design point of view, I am amazed that Craig Thompson wrote such a compelling story and illustrated it so beautifully. The drawings feel very direct and straight to the point. There is a sense of immediacy in his ink drawings to capture the moments as they were (or as he thought them to be) and the applications of his knowledge of composition made for really believable, thought provoking and emotional moments.  The drawings are very expressive and the perspective of the scenes is sometimes pushed to really stress the feeling of some of the moments. For example, when Phil was being dragged out of the room by the father, perspective of the father's legs were forced more to really get the motion and emotion of him dragging phil. Also. I think the wonky outlines of the borders of each panel echoes Craig's emotional instability. I also feel like the design of the panels was very personalized and creative. They were definitely used to propel the mood of the story. There was a particular scene in the beginning of the novel when Craig was being bullied and the page layout with the type was arranged in a way that they created a half page image of his bullies standing over him. 

I think that Blankets is a powerful, moving, must-read.